About this episode

Paul Garofolo discusses the engineering of phages to combat bacterial infections more effectively.

Phages are viruses that attack bacteria. People have been using phages to treat infections for over a hundred years, but in most cases they just don't work as well as antibiotics.  Paul Garofolo is the co-founder and CEO of Locus Biosciences. His problem is this: How do you genetically engineer phages to be more effective at curing disease?  In this episode, Paul explains:  Why wild phages never completely wipe out a bacterial infection How to engineer phages with CRISPR to kill bacteria more effectively The clinical trial testing phage therapy for chronic, recurrent UTIs Why persistent bacteria may contribute to autoimmune conditions like Crohn's disease How to use robots and AI to create phage cocktails from wastewater Connect with us: Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn , X and Instagram  Email us at problem@pushkin.fm   Follow Pushkin on Instagram , LinkedIn or X   Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History  To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Guest: Paul Garofolo

Topics covered

• phage therapy
• bacterial infections
• genetic engineering
• CRISPR technology
• autoimmune conditions
• robotics
• AI in medicine

Keywords

• phages
• bacteria
• antibiotics
• clinical trials
• chronic infections
• AI
• robotics
• genetic engineering

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Locus Biosciences, Pushkin, iHeartPodcasts, CRISPR

Places: Crohn's disease, UTIs

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